"He being dead still speaks"

“By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4).

In Genesis 4, Cain and Able made sacrifices to God. Able’s was accepted while Cain’s was not which made Cain jealous of Able and led him to murdering his brother. There are two ideas behind why Able pleased God and Cain did not. First of all, God could have commanded them to offer a lamb and Cain got it all wrong by offering of his fruit. However there is another idea in that Able offered the first of his flock while Cain just offered some random fruit that he had and didn’t have the right attitude about offering the best. Either way, Able still left behind a good example for us to follow by offering his sacrifice. This is what the Hebrew writer meant when he said, “He being dead still speaks.”

Now here is a question for you to consider. When you are dead, what will you still speak? When we die we will leave behind with others the memories of how we lived our life. Will we leave behind a good example to show others how to get to heaven? Will they remember us as the blessed man (Psalm 1:1-3), or the virtuous woman (Proverbs 31:10-31)? Believe it or not, we will speak even after we are dead and gone. What will it be? The choice is up to you!

Jonathan Glaesemann